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| Plan of Rodney Parade |
As can be seen in the above picture, Rodney Parade, the current home of Newport County, is a three sided stadium with a reported capacity of 11,676.
At County's first home game of the season, against Nuneaton, the attendance was 2646 with 69 in the away area.
At their second home game, against Lincoln City, the gate was 3022 including 71 in the away area.
So on both occasions the stadium had plenty of room.
Newport's next home game is against Hereford United on Tuesday August 28th at 7.45pm. Originally the game was to be played on the Bank Holiday Monday, but this was changed following a request from Gwent Police.
It's been some years since the two clubs last met but many supporters of both clubs will remember the days when they were great rivals.
So it's not surprising that a good number of Hereford supporters would like to travel to Newport for the game. However, as reported earlier on BN, Newport have only offered the Bulls 580 tickets. A request by Hereford for more tickets was turned down by Newport.
The reasons given are said to include problems with segregation of the two sets of fans and the inability of Gwent Police to cope with an influx of away supporters.
Not surprisingly the reaction of Hereford supporters has been critical of both Newport and the Gwent Police.
What is worrying is the possibility of Hereford supporters going in the home end. In essence, at present, there is nothing to stop them as tickets for home fans will be available until kick-off according to the Newport OS.
Match Tickets are available to purchase on matchdays as follows:-
Bisley Stand - From 9.00am
Available from the main ticket office at the entrance to the Bisley Stand.
Terrace - From 6.00pm
Available from the ticket booth situated next to the club office.
It's not too late for Newport County and the Police to re-consider the arrangements for this game given the amount of Hereford supporters who would like to watch the game.
Much better to give them the Bulls extra tickets and keep them in one area than risk some getting into the home end.
Segregation would be much easier if this was done.